As we near the end of 2024, we can look back on the year and see that there were several powerful, popular Commanders printed during our most recent trip around the sun. For example, Voja, Jaws of the Conclave and The Wise Mothman are ranked 48th and 58th respectively on EDHRec, despite being printed so recently.
While these Commanders certainly deserve a lot of attention, I think there are other Commanders that have been unfairly overlooked. In this article, I’m going to take a look at 5 underrated Commanders that were printed this year.
BREECHES, THE BLASTMAKER
The 1,412th Ranked Commander on EDHRec
Breeches is the least popular Commander on the list, but I can’t really understand why. Maybe it’s because people see the words “flip a coin” and figure that he must involve way too much RNG. And there are better coin flip commanders out there than Breeches.
However, unlike most coin flip triggers, Breeches is truly a “heads you win, tails a lose” situation. When you cast your second spell and sacrifice an artifact, you either get to copy the spell or damage any target, depending on the outcome of the coin flip. Either way, you’re getting some very real value.
Of course, Breeches may also be unpopular because it does take some work to get to his coin flip trigger in the first place. But it’s not impossible. You just need a deck with plenty of artifacts and the ability to double spell consistently.
That first part is pretty easy, especially with all the artifact tokens available these days. Treasures are going to be your best friend with Breeches, since they are super expendable and they give you the mana you need to double spell.
This means Breeches can leverage format staples like Unexpected Windfall and Big Score for tons of value. These are great spells for setting up breaches, and they’re also pretty great to copy!
MARVIN, MURDEROUS MIMIC
The 1,273rd Ranked Commander on EDHRec
This one is probably only for you if you like playing on hard mode. Having a Commander with a colorless identity can certainly be challenging. However, Marvin is interesting enough that I think he’s worth the challenge.
Marvin gains the activated abilities of all of the creatures you control. This unlocks several game-winning combos, even when you’re restricted to only playing colorless creatures.
If you have Phyrexian Devourer in play with either Triskelion or Walking Ballista, you’re going to be in business. The Devourer can exile cards from your library to put +1/+1 counters on itself, and both Triskelion and Ballista can remove +1/+1 counters to do 1 damage to any target. If Marvin has both abilities, you can give him a +1/+1 counter for every card in your library and then remove all of those counters to kill your opponents.
If you have him in play alongside Palladium Myr and Pili-Pala, you can produce infinite mana. This is because Marvin can tap for two colorless, and then you can use those two colorless to untap Marvin and add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
If Cryptic Trilobite and Farmstead Gleaner are in play together you can use the Gleaner’s untap ability to put a counter on Marvin, and then use the Trilobite’s ability to add two colorless to your mana pool. You can do this as many times as you want, until Marvin has a million +1/+1 counters.
Those probably aren’t the only combos available to Marvin, either! There’s just a lot of potential for interesting combo-based decks when you’ve got Marvin, Murderous Mimic as your Commander.
ROSHEEN, ROARING PROPHET
The 1,194th Ranked Commander on EDHRec
I’m a pretty big fan of the original Rosheen. I built a pretty fun Hydra typal deck around her back in the day. This new Rosheen blows that one out of the water, though.
Her enter trigger is almost always going to draw you a card in a deck with lots of “X” spells, and her activated ability can generate absurd amounts of mana. She’s basically an X-based Metalworker, and that’s one of the best creatures ever printed. She can allow you to pump insane amounts of mana into “X” and that’s always fun.
So, while she’s not a Hydra herself, she’s probably the best Hydra commander we have, since her Gruul identity gives you access to most of the best ones and she can take advantage of the “X” in the casting cost of most hydras.
GENKU, FUTURE SHAPER
The 1,251st Ranked Commander on EDHRec
Genku does three things that Commander players normally love – she makes a bunch of creature tokens, she pays you off for blinking stuff, and she can put lots of +1/+1 counters on your board. Admittedly, this does mean she’s not super focused on any one of those things, but Genku is a very impressive value engine Commander.
She also had a broader trigger than most similar effects. While blinking is perhaps the most common way to make a token with her, she makes you a token regardless of how a nontoken permanents leaves the battlefield. This means your permanents being destroyed or bounced will give you a token, too.
While she doesn’t come with a built-in way to get her triggered ability to fire off, it isn’t like Azorius has a hard time bouncing or blinking creatures.
If you’re still not convinced, look how cute the Fox and Rat token are. Genku is the only way to make them. So you just have to play with Genku.
LILAH, UNDEFEATED SLICKSHOT
The 1,174th Ranked Commander on EDHRec
There are more than enough Izzet spellslinger Commanders out there, but Lilah approaches that theme from a different angle than most. This is because she likes multicolored instants and sorceries in particular, and she pays you off for playing a bunch of them in a big way.
While you have to wait for a turn, she effectively doubles every multicolored instant and sorcery you play. This gets especially spicy when you combine her with effects that trigger when an instant or sorcery are cast, since every single one of your spells will make those triggers happen twice. This includes her Prowess of course, but she also goes quite well with the recently printed Rite of the Dragoncaller and Archmage of Runes, for example.
While basically restricting yourself to Izzet spells is certainly a deckbuilding restriction, there are more than enough powerful Izzet instants and sorceries out there for a Lilah deck to be very viable.
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Those are my picks for the most underrated Commanders printed this year. What 2024 Commander do you think is being overlooked? Let me know over on X!
Happy holidays everyone.
Jacob has been playing Magic for the better part of 24 years, and he especially loves playing Magic’s Limited formats. He also holds a PhD in history from the University of Oklahoma. In 2015, he started his YouTube channel, “Nizzahon Magic,” where he combines his interests with many videos covering Magic’s competitive history. When he’s not playing Magic or making Magic content, he can be found teaching college-level history courses or caring for a menagerie of pets with his wife.